Louise is 101 but first to vote

Louise Phelan may be 101, but she was quick out of the traps to cast her referendum vote.

“I think I was the first one here. I did my best for the country,” she said after her trip to the polling station in Loughrea.

She left the Galway town aged 19 — when the voting age was still 21 — and spent 15 years in the US, mostly in New York, followed by more than 40 years in London.